Blonde star Ana de Armas says she went to Marilyn Monroe’s grave to ask permission to play her.

The actor plays the Hollywood icon in new Netflix biopic Blonde directed by Andrew Dominik, released in cinemas today (September 23) and streaming next week.

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In an interview with AnOther, Ana de Armas revealed that she and the Blonde crew visited Monroe’s grave in Los Angeles, at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery to ask permission to tell her story on film.

“We got this big card and everyone in the crew wrote a message to her,” de Armas said. Then we went to the cemetery and put it on her grave. We were asking for permission in a way.”

She added: “Everyone felt a huge responsibility, and we were very aware of the side of the story we were going to tell – the story of Norma Jeane, the person behind this character, Marilyn Monroe. Who was she really?”

The actor had previously discussed feeling the presence of Monroe on set, saying she could feel her spirit while filming. “[Monroe’s ghost] would also throw things off the wall sometimes and get mad if she didn’t like something,” de Armas said, as reported by GQ.

Earlier this month, De Armas said she disagrees with the film’s restrictive NC-17 rating, which recommends that no one under the age of 18 should see the project.

“I didn’t understand why that happened,” she said. “I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content than Blonde.

“But to tell this story it is important to show all these moments in Marilyn’s life that made her end up the way that she did. It needed to be explained. Everyone [in the cast] knew we had to go to uncomfortable places. I wasn’t the only one.”

Blonde is released on Netflix on September 28, 2022.